Wednesday, September 5, 2018

The biggest win of the season that nobody saw

Why lie? When I nodded off to Nod, the Yankees were pissing face-down in the wading pool, hitless through four, and I whispered cruelties at Cashman until sleep finally came to steal my indignation. "He's an idiot," I told the Yankiverse. "This is Crazytown!"

And it was. For seven innings. Then, with nobody watching - as is the case with West Coast swings - the tree fell in the forest, and we're still hearing the echo.

Last night could be 2018's biggest moment to date, after that Bishop copping the feel on Ariana Grande. (Praise the Lord!) It's a monkey wrench tossed into Oakland's wood-chipper, snapping all the blades. Tonight, the A's can win by 20 runs, and it won't matter. They needed Ryan McBroom, and they got Scranton. They pressed the red button with their nose, and instead of receiving a delicious food pellet, they got an electric shock. From now on, all they can do is watch the scoreboard and shake their fists, the way we've been flailing at Boston. This was their moment, and it ended with a fat pitch from an ex-Met to Luke Voit, this month's breakout Yankee. Luuuuuuuuke.

Seven home runs in 12 games. Surely, that enshrines Voit into some mathematical comparison with the Babe, or Lou, or Mickey, or Shane Spencer, because the YES Channel has interns doing such research. We better enjoy it, because we're seeing Voit's once-around-the-league streak, (and there's nothing wrong with that; we suffered at the hands of the White Sox and Tigers for exactly the same reason.) If Voit can stay hot for - say - four more weeks, he might inscribe himself into Yankee lore forever. He'll never go hungry as long as there are baseball card conventions and airport Ramadas.

Clerical note here: We are now officially no longer waiting for Greg Bird. He will be traded in the off-season, probably in a package, for some team's comparable disappointment. My guess is Pittsburgh, where he'll actually have a decent year or two. But it won't matter. We'll have Miguel Andujar or somebody else playing first - it probably won't be Voit - and a new era will begin. Even if Bird were to get hot in the playoffs, as he did last year, I don't think the Yankees can sell tickets on his future. And once that happens, a chapter closes.

One of these days, a tree in the forest might fall on Gary Sanchez. (Though he certainly needs more time; he's just back, so we should suspend harsh judgements.) But if Sanchez' malaise continues, someone in the Yankee brain trust might just decide that Austin Romine is a fine catcher, and the team is better off in the playoffs with a defensive backstop who can hit .260 - rather than a chop-house butcher who hasn't seen the Mendoza Line since May. The Gary Era could also end this winter. Would Pittsburgh take them both?

Also of note last night: Zach Britton pitched a scoreless inning. One, two, three. In three of his last four outings, he has looked solid. (He had a hiccup against the Tigers.) If he can even remotely get back to old form, the Yankees could survive without Aroldis Chapman. 

Finally, let's give some love to Ryan McBroom, Gio Urshela, Billy Fleming, Zach Zehner, Mike Ford and - yes - Shane Robinson, the organizational tools who helped Scranton reach the International League playoffs, which might just become the Yankees' most important minor league post-season in this millennium. 

If the Railriders can stretch their first-round playoffs to five games, and then go five more in the finals, the world could conceivably watch Aaron Judge and Aroldis Chapman trying to nail down the Governor's Cup for old Wilkes Barre. Imagine Scranton playing 10 more games. Like last night, they could turn out to be the biggest games that nobody sees. 

40 comments:

JJ in MA said...

I actually saw it! I woke up at 11:45 and was up until about 5AM doing work and tuned in just as Robertson was dealing strikeouts. I think maybe the key to watching the Yankees in 2018 is just skipping the first time through the batting order and turning the game on late.

TheWinWarblist said...

I saw a few moments of the top of the 6th.

So endeth the JuJu.

TheWinWarblist said...

But also this: AHH! AHHH!!! Aha-ah-haaaaa!!
AAaAhhaaaa-haha-haaa-hhhhhHHHHHHHHaaaaAAHHHHHHHHHHHaaaa-ah-ah-ah-aaaaaaaaAaAaHaHaHaaaAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhh !!!!!

JM said...

Well said, Warblist. Well said.

What was the Master's call for Hech? Can anyone confirm?

My wife and I loved Shane Spencer. He was a real hard-luck story. Well after his big intro, he got a chance to be the starting left fielder and was doing fine. Then he was injured. That was it. He never got another chance to play regularly with us.

Shit happens.

Anonymous said...

Nothing. He was CLEARLY unprepared, like the rest of humanity, to see Hech go deep.

If you tune the volume all the way up, you can actually hear the master whisper ‘holy shit!’ When it left Hech’s bat haha

Rufus T. Firefly said...

There is only one answer for Adeiny's Sterling HR call:

Mekka-lekka-hi, Mekk A-DEINY ho! He Jambi'ed that one!


Unfortunately, I fully expect something along the lines of 'shiny'

Carl J. Weitz said...

I watched the game cursing the usual suspects for not making contact with the baseball, failing to get runners home with less than two outs (in this case no outs). Then Voit homered and everything seemed right again with the world. I continued watching until I fell asleep in the bottom of the eight, only to be awakened by my two Yellow Labs pawing my head with their claws wanting to go out at 2 AM from sharing my two bags of chips I ate to relieve my game anxiety. They did not,though, share my Glenfiddich.

ranger_lp said...

How about..."Adeiny that will live in infamy"

Alphonso said...

I watched the game until Gary Sanchez struck out with the bases loaded.

That's two days in a row.

Gary striking out in another critical moment.

I still remember Jesus Montero doing that. Even before we all came to expect him to do that.

But I cannot watch games when the predictable, miserable outcome is foretold ( even if wrong ) by Gary Sanchez.

Leaving the heavy lifting to others. People like Luke Voit and that new person whose name is more difficult to pronounce than Amanadingdong.

Hey, Gary did get a single, later. When it didn't matter.

That's the whole point now about Gary ...he simply doesn't matter.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Well said, Carl. I love dogs, but frankly, they're fine with Jim Beam.

I was watching when Voit went into the Oakland void. Anybody ever been to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum? (As it used to be called at least. I'm sure it has some corporate sponsor name now.)

It's like seeing a ballgame in the Thunderdome. If they sell enough seats, they just open up a new section, which usually looks like those pictures of the old Nazi stadiums after they were firebombed a couple times by the Allies.

As for the call, it was: "Hetch-Hetchy hit that one with a redwood! Into where the tall pines grow!"

No, actually I was watching it on TV, with the sound off so as not to wake the wife. But it was sweet.

HoraceClarke66 said...

I gotta give Sanchez a good-faith effort on this one. Houdini had his ball diving at unreal angles last night, which meant he walked a couple guys when they laid off it.

But Sancho was really going after it, blocking it at the plate when a passed ball could have been disastrous. He was, in general, more animated than I have ever seen him, popping up to run out to the mound, pumping his fist on the key strikeouts.

Now, if he could only hit...

Still, I give him his props on the attitude. It seems 180 degrees different.

Also, let's remember the key role that El Matador played, as usual, with a big hit that took it from 2-1 to 3-1. Of course, he was lifted after that for defensive purposes, and Walker was moved to third.

All fine and good, but when I finally managed to find the remote and the closed caption button, the TV guys were all kvelling about how great he was in making a nice play at third.

That's fine—but before that, Walker had managed yet another in a seemingly endless succession of pop-ups with the bases loaded. Without the hits, the nice defensive plays are just so much garnish.

HoraceClarke66 said...

John M., beg to differ in part regarding Shane Spencer.

The injury—which WAS freakish, coming suddenly in the outfield—didn't happen until 2000. I remember watching it—it was against the Mets, right before the All-Star Game.

Spencer had plenty of time to win the left field spot all through 1999, and again after he came back—and did bupkus. In general, he seems to have had the emotional stability and tolerance for alcohol most commonly associated with one Alfred Manuel Martin.

I remember there was some bizarre incident where he managed to cut his (bare) foot in a Manhattan barroom, and then there was the whole thing when he and Karim Garcia beat up a pizza delivery guy or some such. Sure, they were just training for the next confrontation with the Red Sox grounds crew. But still.

Spencer's big, hard-luck story came in the seventh game in Arizona, in 2001. Apparently, he hit a ball late, with two men on base, against Curt Schilling that everybody in the game thought was long gone. But because the Series was so late that year, because it was November, that crazy little rainstorm had moved in, and the wind batted it down.

The rain also made the infield wet, and led to The Great One's sure DP throw sailing high on that bunt. Curse you again, Osama bin Laden!

If not for that pressure system, Spencer locks up the game, there's a big victory parade past the Twin Towers, and everybody loves him forever.

It's sad. Though there is only so sad I can be for somebody who beats up pizza delivery guys. Unless that pizza was really, really cold...

HoraceClarke66 said...

Duque, Fernando Rodney is an ex-Met? I didn't see them among the 10 teams he has played for. But it's always good to beat that punk.

Incidentally, as another sign of Mo's greatness, I noticed that at age 41, after 16 years of regularly closing, Rodney has 325 saves—or slightly less than half of Rivera's final total, not including the postseason. Incredible.

Anonymous said...

Hoss,

When I lived in SF I used to go to the Colosseum to watch the Yankees and occasionally to root against the Sox. I actually like it.

Sure, it lacks charm, amenities, history, and pretty much anything that we get romantic about when discussing ball parks.

And yes, the extra seats and "luxury boxes" in the OF that they added to make it a better stadium for football are an architectural abomination. (Plus, how did that work out for the Raiders?)

And OK, there's enough room between the foul lines and the stands accommodate a softball game but...

I remember a time when my folks were out visiting from NY and my Dad took myself, my son, some old family friends and their kids to the ball game. We were seven in all and by the time he got the discounts for the kids, being a senior, having AAA, being a veteran, having it be... I don't know, dollar Tuesday? I think they ended up giving us $20 to watch the game.

OK that's an exaggeration but the amount was so low that my Dad started laughing.

Basically it is the kind of stadium where you can pay what you want, sit where you want and the only people there are actually baseball fans. The kind of fans that would give Randy Levine a heart attack.

There is something to be said for that.

Still, you would think that given the importance of this series against the Yankees they could have done better than 17K in attendance.

Doug K.



Leinstery said...

Anyone notice The Master changed Voit call to "Cool hand Luke fills the Voit"

Someone here suggested he use Cool Hand Luke, does The Master read this? I like to think he does.

Retired Stratman said...

It's certainly better than "Voit is adroit". Yuck. I still think "Luke - the Force is with you" is the right call.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Agreed, Stratman!

And Doug K., yeah, i actually enjoyed myself, too. I also liked how my brother-in-law and nephew and I pretty much had a whole section to ourselves, and yes, especially how cheap—that is to say, "costing what a ballgame should"—it was.

It was weird, though. I mean, we found Jimmy Hoffa out there. Not dead or anything, just munching some peanuts. He hadn't been able to find his way out for the last thirty years.

Carl J. Weitz said...

Hoss, I saw one game against the Yankees when I was out in the SF bay area in May of 1989. Canseco hit 3 absolute laser shot line drives for HR. He hit them like Judge does currently.
It was a nice place to watch a ball game and good tickets were considerably less than at Yankee Stadium. Also easy to get even though the A's were a very good club and won the ALCS and World Sesies.

TheWinWarblist said...

I dare not spake about it, but Atlanta seems to be having a good half inning.

TheWinWarblist said...

How aboot: Adeiny hits it a long weiny!??

TheWinWarblist said...

Hoss, your Shane Spencer specific memory is remarkable, albeit a bit creepy and stalkerish.

HoraceClarke66 said...

I was watching the game on TV with several Mets fans—I could actually name them, which is another indication of how much of my brain is wasted on baseball—and feeling very cocky because we had just been pounding them.

We had another friend over, a new neighbor who'd grown up in Uganda, so he didn't know anything about the sport. I was explaining to him, in front of the soccer-knowledgeable Mets fans, how the Yankees were like Man U., and the Mets were like Man City.

Of course, some hovering JuJu spirit immediately had Spencer fall lame, and Mike Hampton shutout the Yanks.

I blame myself.

Rufus said...

How did we miss this?

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/24580222/skirmish-breaks-seattle-mariners-clubhouse-game-vs-baltimore-orioles

KD said...

I wonder if Robbie Cool J(ogger) was in on the fisticuffs? I doubt he actually cares enough to get upset over a baseball issue.

TheWinWarblist said...

And you can re-count the conversation you had that day, Hoss? Not creepy or stalkerish. At all.

TheWinWarblist said...

Adeiny hits it a long weiny!!!

KD said...

It was Shane Spencer, I believe, that was the model for "The New Yankee" in that Sex and the City television show. Luke needs some heavy cultural inferences if he is to encroach on NY's collective Shane Spencer memories.

The fact that Spencer, a professional athlete, and his pal (also a professional athlete) beat some poor pizza dude, is monstrous. However, I caulk that up to him being a Met at the time.

Ken of Brooklyn said...

I was surprised The Master didn't tap into his inner Broadway West Side Story> 'Varriaaaaaa, he just hit a homerun Hechavarria!!!"

HoraceClarke66 said...

Un-fucking-believable.

Atlanta managed to blow a 7-1 lead to Boston in the eighth—then an 8-7 lead in the ninth.

Sigh. They really are a team of destiny.

TheWinWarblist said...

I should not have spake it. I should not have spake it.

Joe Formerlyof Brooklyn said...


For your consideration:

I went back on MLB.com to the Aug 4 standings (you can do that, easily, even if you happen to be a tech-allergic geezer).

Since 8/4 --

Boston is 18-and-10

NYYs are 19-and-11

Oakland is 17-and-11

Seattle is 14-and-14

I admit to having become somewhat gloomy about the prospects for the Yankees in the coming weeks -- single-game playoff, series vs. the Red Sox (with them having a home advantage)......etc.

However: It's worth noting that the Yankees and Sox have essentially the same record at this point (if NYYs win tonight, they are 20-and-11 in the same period). Their record is better than Oakland's (better, if there is a NYY win tonight).

Excuses: Didi's been on the DL since 8/21, and Judge going back to 7/26. Injuries are part of the game, of course -- but it's possible that 19-and-11 might have been 22-and-8 with those 2 guys healthy. Maybe.

TheWinWarblist said...

Sing it, Joe FoB.

ranger_lp said...

Leinstery said...

Anyone notice The Master changed Voit call to "Cool hand Luke fills the Voit"

Someone here suggested he use Cool Hand Luke, does The Master read this? I like to think he does.


I guess I have a channel to The Master then....

ranger_lp said...

TheWinWarblist said...

How aboot: Adeiny hits it a long weiny!??


I think you meant Adeiny hits a long weiner... (props to Luis Tiant)

Vampifella said...

Hey Hey! I just got an email from the Comix Zone in Syracuse about Tom Peyer (Mustang) of Ahoy Comics for the "The Wrong Earth" comic signing on September 15th. Shameless plug for el duque's comic! Now if only the gang will make it to Uticon the week after to promote the book, I'd surely pick up a copy!

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Load the bases. Score no runs.

I guess it's ok to go to bed.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Yup. And then: The Gary and Luis Show! Zanier than Moose & Squirrel.

Leinstery said...

Severino is a grade A bum.

Austria's Only Baseball Fan said...

Tonight's musical Zwishcenspiel comes to you courtesy of the immortal Lotte Lenya and Jack Guilford (I saw them perform it...). The lyrics are particularly trenchant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BADNKFFEXwo

And it includes a nice "Ahhh ah ah ahhhhh" for our very own Win-Warblist.

As Frau Schneider say<s, "My head is spchinning..."

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